Athletes from the Reno / Lake Tahoe had mixed results at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. Our contingent competed in alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, and snowboarding events. Here is a summary of their performances, a real mix of the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.
Photo © Harry How / Getty ImagesJulia Mancuso took the silver medal in women's downhill, bested only by teammate Lindsey Vonn. The silver-gold combo by the two American women is an Olympic first.
Mancuso's second silver medal came in the women's combined. She is the first woman to medal in the event since Gretchen Fraser won in 1948 at St. Moritz.
With two silvers already in the bag, Mancuso wasn't able to add another medal in the women's Super G. Her off day was only good for 9th.
A bizarre set of circumstances kept Mancuso off the podium in her attempt to win a second giant slalom gold medal at Vancouver (she was the defending champion from Torino in 2006) and she came in 8th overall.
Photo © Harry How / Getty ImagesBahrke's bronze medal in moguls competition in Vancouver adds to her silver won at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. U.S. teammate Hannah Kearney took gold and Canadian Jennifer Heil won silver for the host country.
Photo © Harry How / Getty ImagesHalfpipe champion Hannah Teter didn't have quite enough juice on her last run, having to settle for silver behind gold medalist Torah Bright of Australia. Another American, Kelly Clark, hung in there for the bronze.
Photo © Harry How / Getty ImagesRahlves went to Vancouver as a ski cross favorite, but during a semi-final qualifying race, he tangled with French ski cross racer Ted Piccard and went down hard. He got up and skied to the finish, but was no longer in contention for a medal. Rahlves finished in 28th position. Teammate Casey Puckett placed 23rd.
Photo © Harry How / Getty ImagesAfter cruising through the semi-finals in fine shape, Holland looked like a sure bet to land on the podium in the final race for the medals. Partway through the race, he spun out and ended up out of contention in fourth place. The U.S. did, however, win gold as defending Torino Olympic champion Seth Wescott came from the back of the pack to win. Silver went to Canadian Mike Robertson and Tony Ramoin of France took the bronze.
Photo © Harry How / Getty ImagesThe 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games were not Sullivan's time to shine. He crashed near the finish in the downhill and came in well off the pace in Super G, placing 23rd.
Photo © Harry How / Getty ImagesElena Hight joined the general carnage as multiple competitors fell during their halfpipe medal runs. She placed 10th in a field of 30 boarders.
Photo © Doug Pensinger / Getty ImagesStacey Cook couldn't put together a competitive run in the women's downhill race at Vancouver, placing 11th and almost three seconds off the pace set by teammates Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso, winners of gold and silver respectively.
Photo © Matthew Stockman / Getty ImagesTim Jitloff didn't make the official start roster for his event, the giant slalom.
Photo © Jed Jacobsohn / Getty ImagesJust competing in the Vancouver Winter Olympics is a major accomplishment, but Errol Kerr was eliminated from medal contention in the semi-finals. He placed 9th overall.
Photo © Doug Pensinger / Getty ImagesGreg Bretz wasn't able to put it together in the halfpipe finals. His disappointing runs landed him in 12th place. Two other Americans, however, finished with medals. As expected, Shaun White wowed the crowd with his second gold medal performance in a row. Scott Lago put down a solid run to win the bronze.
